Process of extracting metals from their ores.



-- W. E. GREENAWALT.

PROCESS OF EXTRACTING METALS FROM THEIR ORES. APPLICM'ION FILED JUNE i. 1915.

Phtented Mar. 13, 1917.

FIG 1 FIG 3 FICA "min; I .1.

:ITdallw omitmayconcem: k.

j "ituknemn ythat :1, WI LI E, GREENA a wigwieitigen L the United Statee residth'ihity-ti1d,;county of Denver and 5m fiefloldmdo, have invented certain neizvicandtuse'fu-J's'Improvements in Processes ofeiflxtmetinggM-etale fro m Their Ores; 01E which'itherfbllowihg is 0 specification.

ixheuobiedt ef theinventien is toi-efieetilally apply blast roaetin g torfi elytkerhshiediorein a verticaleolumn,

itpieime-pianying drawing in fwhich, 'q repeesents a. section of an. appear.

iteb1'e1 fer he line X--Y (if Fig. 1,1 and etai'hot the'twyers. ngsJeF represents a s I "{teken as a whole, and Te f the, furnace 'iS Sublets the body of the fur h tvwyers, 2e hopper-1101' the t t b w 13W &nd 3 an e ite epe merged in the liquid.

" I q e he gtees is supplied to the ore. in

s$ifu?e supplied=te the twyers,

with the source of gas supply,

fie couplings to connect lihgs ffenhectmg the twyersto .thezsupit the furnace.

* nyentmnmetbest descnhed fefefgcarrying outthe procees; H

tack

" after ()1- other liquid in ii s'tfl irem the Turnacef 40 is 7 1 1% the pipesthfbugh,

'tt'ifl Ebfin'ecting the t'wyers and 'u'sfittlly deliver f the, gas under- "tfii fl'i the furnace and 17 vthe ,8 ggepre' e fer the iur aceg a dr will filled endlthefoperetiqn e tp flighte 11 is ,then started, an t; slpmfgliyt reciprecates it; cuts "out a et 1 1 .Li! Ii'iiln Serielfiot gl iiln I the exhaust pipe for the liquid in the table; 20 ts a "reciprocal conveyer by means 01 1 wk ugh the wasted ore isw'ithdrawn firg m'the hqmd, when actuated by the mechhismQlJ Qiereflexible rods by means 'bf -whieh. the l'l iiq lplfl ctll enliveyer is suspended in the tank I al'ftdin the liquid, from the beams 28;" "22 is a tank iute which the ore is conveyed'ifor futlthey treatment, or to be asted. '1

The twyel's are preferably constructed fa hown in Eigsfll and Lin Whieh fire/presents lower part of which is 0pm but having supporting bands 26, Within the; tal .,P P 1s.a.\{e1.y.p mu5 eerthel'lware mnsilice' epbnge pipe 01' lining??? tl'lreugh whit. h'eir d hwr l te the age, and this polonsipipe'i lming, alsqi prevents the fin k'ore fromjget ting into the; twgy'ers,and ;je1ogging* the air passages distributes "the .air .equ ally. fi'thlyough theeetireenema I J; n tw -1g he proces thelesitPfls G" and D are .fil ledwwith pliefwhix ili i p f flt' ouslyheen wa sted .Afipe is then stsilrtetlen the; pre, abqve the .twyerg and the blast 6f air 01'; other gases intmd'ucedlintethe fer; naeethmugh the; twyere. Fresh one is the'ri charged into the tur aee.

. In Icherging ummmsted ,o'

H reinto the fur? naee, itls preferably mixed with eerbna ceouefuel. If the suffurfeontent of the ore s 10W, carbonaceous fiiel is H neeessary. If theore iefloliidized and sulfetizi ng is desired, as in the eulfeting-of eeppeppree, n mixture. is. preterebly mag co tqiiiipg'bhth lsulfid:-a,nd carbonaceous.materiel, It 01110} ridizetion is desired, salt should else be edded to the ehayge, Thezehar eie; ja tended to be lQtlQtfid by the internei eembile tic'm of the 1c0h1bustlble, elements in the h rg d p ra ureregulated by the amount of .ilil" introduced into the charge threughthe'twyers. 1

,Whiatmfer the mixture, it, is] charged; on. top-of the aignitecjL-material @1363? he twyers so that the l blast fiild ignited. material heats endtignitss the e11erge.i,.Fresh 'c n'e is. added frem time to timeuntilthe fu rnitceis; plfetty ll iihd way:

. w 1? i {segmentot the one collimn-tmd dell vers 1t to the eonveyeir F20. The- 'e'fmyeyen, an turn,

,fitijdtlfe {edmr sematerial is gradually Wbi'kfl ttithe fioif thetank T r thetwyer as 11 whole, 25 aggniet'el, pipe the values-are sufiiciently extracted.

lated as desired.

As the roasted ore is removed from the bottom of the column fresh ore is added on top, and thus the process goes on continuously. The fresh ore is charged through the charge-door 40, The charged ore will usually be moist so as to make it more permeablev to the air blast, and may contain from five to ten per cent. moisture.

In order to better describe the process, the ore column may conveniently be divided into four zones, A, B, C, and D. A represents the unroasted ore, B the ore undergoing roasting, C the hot roasted ore, and D- tlie ore submerged in the liquid in the tank.

Usually it will be best to keep the zone of roasting, or incandescence, a little above the twyers, soxthat the gases entering the furnace at the twyers zone come in contact with the hot roasted ore, so that in cooling the.

ore the gases are heated and thus actmore economically and energetically on the ore undergoing roasting, thus serving two m 1- portant economic purposes. Besides, it is desirable to have the ore comparatively cool before it enters the zone ofthe submerging liquid, so that the wetting will not take place with violence. This is also avoided by the slowness with which the water or liquid permeates the hotore, and as it permeates and the ore is wetted and cooled, the steam arising therefrom, ascends and mingles with l the air or-qther gases, introduced through the twyers, and assists in obtaining the desired results.

It is desirable that the ore should be lowered uniformly, so as to avoid Ethanneling; this is accomplished bycutting, or removing, a complete section of the ore column by the flight 11, and as the bottom section is remoa'ed, the entire ore mass in, the furnace is lowered uniforml ,"and as-it is being lowered fresh ore is a ded on top. The

flight 11 will usually travel quite slowly,

but may be regulated to any speed desired. I The distribution of the air or other gases through the twyers is preferably made through-a porouslin'ing, reinforced by a metal support, as shown in detail 1n Flgs. 3 and at. r The porous part of the twyer may be made-of very porous earthenware or silica onge the-idea bein to get an even distribution bf the airwhile .at the same time preventing any of the fine material from getting into and clogging the twyer air passages.

It will be observed that in roasting the ore as described, the operation will be entirely dustless. No dust is produced in removing the ore-from the furnace through the submerged opening in the bottom of the furnace, and no dust is produced by the air in percolating slowly upward through the roasting and fresh ore.

It will also be observed that the heat in the roasted ore is available for facilitating the solution of the metals in the liquid. Suppose, for example, the ore to be treated a. .copper ore and the liquid to be an acid solution to dissolve the copper from the roasted ore; manifestly the dissolving of the copper by the acid solution will be more rapid and thorough under the action of the heat from the ore than if applied cold in a.

leaching vat, and this additional economy is obtained at no extra expense.

Gases other than air may be introduced into the ore through the twye-rs; if, for eX ample, it is desired to sulfatize the ore by using sulfur dioxid instead of adding sulfur to the charge, this may be done by introducing the gas through the twyers with the air in this way the air is used to burn the carbonaceous fuel in the charge to bring the ore to a roasting-temperature, and the sulfur gas used to sulfatize the metals in the ore. Similarly, chlorin may be introduced through the twyers to chloridize the metal values in the ore. In any event, usually most of the metal values can be made directly soluble in Water: in which case the liquid in the tank T would be water, butusually it will be a dilute acid solution, thestrength of the acid being governed by the results desired and the nature of the ore.

It will be observed that the process can be made practically continuous, and thiswill be the normal way of operating it. The liquid seal, in add tion to overcoming the dust loss and making the heat in the ore available for the dissolving of the metals,

rovides a feasible way'of applying an air last to a vertical column of ore, while the .ore is moving in the opposite direction, and

the air and steam directed upwardly through the ore instead "of blowing it out downwardly through the ore already treated.

The process may also be varied to get different results; if it is desired to volatilize the metals, Salt is mixed with the charge and the air blown in rapidly so as to increase the temperatime to the vol'atilization point;

if ordinary ox dizing-roasting is desired an ordmary roasting temperature may be mamtained and if sulfatizin-g or chloridizing is desired 'the temperature will usually be maintained" at scarcely a visible red. If

sintering or agglomeration is. desired, the

air blast is madestrong and the temperature raised to the'fl'ising point of the material in the furnace. The gases given off from the ore may be wasted or treated as desired either for the recovery of the volatilized ing the roasted ore to the action of the liquid in which it is submerged, and withdrawing the ore from the vertical column in the submerging liquid.

2.v Aprocess of treating ores of metals which consists in disposing the ore in a vertical column having its top exposed to a gaseous atmosphere and its bottom submerged in a liquid capable of dissolving the soluble values in the ore, heating the ore, treating the ore with air or other gases to convert the metals into soluble forin-gcooling and moistening the ore while tical column, and then withdrawing the ore from the vertical column in the submerging liquid. i I

3. A process of treating ores of metals which consists in disposing the ore in a vertical column having the top exposed to a gaseous atmosphere and the bottom submerged in an acid solution capable of dissolvlng the soluble values in the ore, heating the ore, applying air or other gases to the ore to convert the metals into a soluble form, and withdrawing the ore from the bottom of the vertical column in thesubmerging liquid.

at. A process of treating ores of metals which consists in disposing the ore in a vertical column, heating the ore, applying air or other gases into the ore and roasting it by the internal. combustion of its combustible elements, cooling and wetting the ore while still in the vertical column, and then withdrawing theore from the vertical column in a submerging liquid, and continuously withdrawing the ore from the submerging ternal combustion of its combustible ele ments, cooling the roasted ore and applying with .a leaching solution,

still in the verto it a leaching solution, and then removing the ore from the vertical column and separately withdrawing the sands and the slimes from the leaching solution.

6. A process oftreating ores which consists in disposing the, ore in a vertical column, sealing the bottom of the ore column applying air or other gas to the ore and roasting it by the internal combustion of its-combustible elements, continuously withdrawing the roasted ore from the ore column'into the leaching solution seal, and continuously removing the leached ore from the leaching liquid.

-7. A process of treating ores which cons'ists in disposim the ore in a vertical column, heating the ore, distributing air or other gases through the heated-ore through a porous material, withdrawing the ore from the bottom of the vertical 'coluinn below' the air inlet, and thus passing" the ore in the column downwardly through the distributed air.

8. A process of treating ores which consists in disposing the ore in a vertical column, sealing the bottom of the column with a liquidseal, applying air or other gas to the ore and roasting it by the internal combustion of its combustible'elements,continuously withdrawin the roasted ore from the ore column. into t e sealing liquid, and continuously withdrawing the ore from the sealing liquid. v

9. A process of treating ores of metals which consists in heating the ore, disposing the ore in a confined vertical column with its lower extremitysubmerged in' a"-leaching liquid thereby sealing the bottom of the column with aliquid seal, withdrawin the ore from the bottomof the vertical co umn into the submergin leaching liquid, and withdrawing the san s and slimes separately from the leaching and sealing liquid.

10. A process of treating ores of metals whichconsists in heating the ore, disposing the hot ore 1n a confined column with its lower extremity submerged in a leaching liquid thereby sealing the bottom of the column with a liquid seal, withdrawing the ore from the bottom of the column into the Witnesses FRED V. HEIDBRAK, JAMES O- PATTERSON;

submerging liquid, withdrawing the sands 

